Originally Posted by
Notso_fastLane
From the article:
"Molyneaux said he believes that neighborhood complaints about the large groups of riders have led to tensions between the cycling community and law enforcement."
If you look at the area on google maps, it's a fairly remote in terms of traffic speed or congestion, so the only reason the people would be complaining is probably because 1) they don't like cyclists, and 2) they're jerks.
It's pretty common, unfortunately, in retirement areas. I don't know why, but AZ, which is also a great place for biking in just about every other way, has communities of old, mostly white retired people who are absolutely hostile even to individual riders going through 'their streets'.
You never know quite how to take complaints. Some people trip offline at the mere sight of "Spandex." Some people believe cyclists should stay off of the road. Some believe that cyclists should immediately remove themselves from the roadway when they approach in their car.
Sometimes complaints are justified. If the neighbors were complaining about riders ignoring traffic control signs and devices, then this video would tend to support that claim. If complaints were about cyclists not paying attention to the whole of the traffic picture in some way, this video would tend to support that. When you don't acknowledge the presence of enforcement using lights and sirens until they are on your wheel, it is unlikely that you are aware of the traffic around you and are working cooperatively with the other roadway users.